Basically, when it comes to using a proxy to hide your IP address, or to access blocked websites, you have two choices, and then two sub-choices. The first choice is whether to use an anonymous-proxy or to use an elite proxy. A good anonymous proxy can hide your IP address. An elite-proxy also hides your IP address, but then it goes one big step further. It also hides the fact that you're using a proxy. If privacy, or secrecy, is your goal, then the choice here is pretty obvious. If you're going to go to the effort of using a proxy, it makes no sense to use one that only does half the job.

Now to the sub-choices. Whether you choose an anonymous-proxy or an elite-proxy, you'll have to choose between whether to use a public one or a private one. Basically it's pretty easy to see the advantages to having your own private proxy over a public one. It's faster because you're the only one using it, and it's a million times safer because you're the only person on the planet that can access it. Obviously I'm biased here, but it's for a very good reason. I could just as easily show you how to use either of these four choices. In fact, I could have four different instruction manuals, one for each type. But I only have one, because a private-elite-proxy is the only one that I trust. It's the only one that's safe, fast, and actually does the full job that a proxy is meant to do.